Account of the COURTSHIP and MARRIAGE of the celebrated DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
Johnson had from his early youth, been sensible to the influence of female charms. When at Stourbridge school, he was much enamoured of Olivia Lloyd, a young quaker, to whom he wrote a copy of verses, which I have not been able to recover; and I am assured by Miss Seward, that he conceived a tender passion for Miss Lucy Porter, daughter of the lady whom he afterwards married. Miss Porter was sent very young on a visit to Litchfield, where Johnson had frequent opportunities of seeing and admiring her; and he addressed to her the following verses, on her presenting him with a nosegay of myrtle:
“What hopes, what terrors does this gift create,
“Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate:
“Thy myrtle, ensign of supreme command,
“Consign’d by Venus to Melissa’s hand;
“Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
“Now grants, and now rejects a lover’s prayer.
“In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
“In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain;